CHAPTER 3

¹And these are the generations of Aaron and Moses on the day the LORD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. ²And these are the names of the sons of Aaron: the firstborn Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ³These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests whom he installed to serve as priests. ⁴And Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they brought forward unfit fire before the LORD in the Wilderness of Sinai, and sons they did not have, and Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron their father.

⁵And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶“Bring forward the tribe of Levi, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. ⁷And they shall keep his watch and the watch of all the community before the Tent of Meeting to do the work of the Tabernacle. ⁸And they shall keep watch over all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting and the watch of the Israelites to do the work of the Tabernacle. ⁹And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons, wholly given shall they be from the Israelites. ¹⁰And Aaron and his sons you shall single out, that they keep their priesthood, and the stranger who draws near shall be put to death.” ¹¹And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²“And as for Me, look, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the Israelites in place of every firstborn womb-breach of the Israelites, that the Levites be Mine. ¹³For Mine is every firstborn. On the day I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated to Me every firstborn in Israel from man to beast—Mine they shall be. I am the LORD.”

¹⁴And the LORD spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, saying, ¹⁵“Reckon the Levites by their fathers’ houses, by their clans, every male from a month old and up you shall reckon them.” ¹⁶And Moses reckoned them according to the word of the LORD as he had been charged. ¹⁷And these were the Levites by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari. ¹⁸And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their clans: Libni and Shimei. ¹⁹And the sons of Kohath by their clans: Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. ²⁰And the sons of Merari by their clans: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of Levi by their fathers’ houses. ²¹To Gershon, the Libnite clan and the Shimeite clan, these are the Gershonite clans. ²²Their reckoning, in the number of every male from a month old and up, their reckoning is seven thousand five hundred. ²³The Gershonite clans shall camp behind the Tabernacle to the west. ²⁴And the chieftain of the father’s house for the Gershonite, Eliasaph son of Lael. ²⁵And the watch of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting, the Tabernacle and the Tent, its cover and the screen of the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, ²⁶and the hangings of the court and the screen of the entrance to the court which is around the Tabernacle and the altar and its cords for all its service. ²⁷And to Kohath, the Amramite clan and the Izharite clan and the Hebronite clan and the Uzzielite clan, these are the Kohathite clans. ²⁸In the number of every male from one month old and up, eight thousand six hundred, keepers of the watch of the sanctuary. ²⁹The clans of the Kohathites shall camp on the side of the Tabernacle to the south. ³⁰And the chieftain of the father’s house for the clans of the Kohathite, Elizaphan son of Uzziel. ³¹And their watch is the ark and the table and the lamp stand and the altars and the sacred vessels with which they shall serve and the screen and all its work. ³²And the chieftain of the chieftains of the Levites is Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, the charge of those who keep the watch of the sanctuary. ³³To the Merarite, the Mahlite clan and the Mushite clan, these are the Merarite clans. ³⁴And their reckoning, in the number of every male from one month old and up, six thousand two hundred. ³⁵And the chieftain of the father’s house for the clans of the Merarite, Zuriel son of Abihail. On the side of the Tabernacle they shall camp to the north. ³⁶And the charge of the Merarites, the boards of the Tabernacle and its bars and its posts and its sockets and all its furnishings and all its work, ³⁷and the posts of the court all around and their sockets and their pegs and their cords. ³⁸And those who camped before the Tabernacle to the east before the Tent of Meeting to the east, Moses and Aaron and his sons, keeping the watch of the Tabernacle, for the watch of the Israelites, and the stranger who draws near shall be put to death. ³⁹All the reckonings of the Levites that Moses and Aaron reckoned according to the word of the LORD by their clans, every male from a month old and up—twenty-two thousand.

⁴⁰And the LORD said to Moses, “Reckon every firstborn male of the Israelites from a month old and up and count the number of their names. ⁴¹And you shall take the Levites for Me—I am the LORD—instead of every firstborn among the Israelites, and the cattle of the Levites instead of every firstborn among the cattle of the Israelites.” ⁴²And Moses reckoned as the LORD had charged him every firstborn among the Israelites. ⁴³And all the firstborn males in the number of names from a month old and up in their reckoning came to twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three. ⁴⁴And the LORD said to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵“Take the Levites instead of every firstborn among the Israelites and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle, and the Levites shall be Mine. I am the LORD. ⁴⁶And for the redemption of the two hundred seventy-three of the firstborn of the Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites, ⁴⁷you shall take five shekels for each head, by the sanctuary shekel, you shall take, twenty gerahs to the shekel, ⁴⁸and you shall give the silver to Aaron and his sons as redemption for those among them who exceed the number.” ⁴⁹And Moses took the redemption silver from those who exceeded the number of those redeemed by the Levites. ⁵⁰From the firstborn of the Israelites he took the silver, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, by the sanctuary shekel. ⁵¹And Moses gave the redemption silver to Aaron and to his sons according to the word of the LORD, as the LORD had charged Moses.